When the legislative session opened in January, Republicans celebrated on two fronts: Not only were they in control of the House for the first time in six years but also the number of GOP women in the state Capitol grew after a serious slide last decade.

Now, Republicans fear new legislative districts drawn by Democrats and approved by the Colorado Supreme Court last week will diminish the number of GOP women serving after the 2012 election.

Three of the nine Republican women in the House will have to run in a primary with another GOP incumbent. Two of them, House Majority Leader Amy Stephens and Rep. B.J. Nik kel, the majority whip, are in leadership.

“Clearly, what the Democrats did to Republicans, particularly conservative women, was deliberate,” Stephens said.

But she added that a “very, very small” wing of her own party suffers from what she calls a “misogynistic attitude” that has contributed to the risky future conservative women face in the legislature.

Dolores Atencio, one of five Democrats on the commission that redrew the boundaries, said there was no attempt to go after female lawmakers.

“I consider myself a longtime feminist, and I can tell you unequivocally that there was no targeting of women,” she said.

Atencio pointed out Republicans appealed the original set of maps, which passed with bipartisan support. It was only after the Colorado Supreme Court returned the maps with the order of fewer divided cities and counties that GOP incumbents were paired together.

“The Republicans have themselves to blame,” she said.

Some new districts aren’t that kind to Democratic women, either.

In the House, Reps. Su Ryden of Aurora and Cherilyn Peniston of Westminster, who have enjoyed safe seats for Democrats, must run next year in competitive districts. With Republicans holding only a one-seat majority in the House, Ryden and Peniston are expected to be prime GOP targets.

A decade ago, 32 percent of Republican lawmakers were women, but by 2007, only 12 percent were women. Democratic women during that same period bumped up their percentage of the caucus from 38 percent to 49 percent.

Republican women made a comeback after the last election, but they still represent only 25 percent of the GOP legislative caucus.

Republican Norma Anderson of Lakewood, who served 19 years in the legislature, was the only woman in the Senate GOP caucus in 2003 and 2004.

“What I have discovered is the parties have changed,” she said. “As Democrats have become more liberal, they have elected more women. As Republicans have become more conservative, they have elected more men.

“But it has been tough for Republican women who don’t cater to the right on social issues, that’s for sure.”

In the Senate, the number of Republican women has tripled this year, to three: Nancy Spence of Centennial, Jean White of Hayden and Ellen Roberts of Durango.

Spence, the lone women in the GOP caucus for four years, is term-limited next year. White, appointed to the seat in January, must run in November. Roberts, elected in 2010, was one of only four Republican women in the House after she first ran in 2006.

“I think there now is a recognition among Republicans that it is not a good thing to have so few women,” Roberts said. “And they realize that women voters who were Republicans and now are unaffiliated want to see a broader spectrum of views.”

In the new House map, Stephens is paired in the same district as Rep. Marsha Looper, R-Calhan, forcing them to run against each other in the 2012 primary.

Making it even tougher is the announcement last week that retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Gar Graham would run for the seat. Conventional wisdom says Stephens and Looper will split the crucial women’s vote, giving Graham an edge.

Graham has the backing of former state Sen. Dave Schultheis, R-Colorado Springs, who is one of Stephens’ biggest critics.

The strongest criticism against Stephens revolves around a bill she co-sponsored with a Democrat to set up health insurance exchanges. Critics have dubbed it “Amycare,” a play on “Obamacare,” and have labeled her a “RINO,” or Republican in Name Only.

Stephens said she researched the word “misogynistic” — a hatred or distrust of women — earlier this year after the attacks on her started.

Schultheis said he’s not concerned with gender or race, but only where people stand on the issues.

In other House races affecting GOP women, Rep. Cindy Acree of Aurora moves from a safe Republican seat to a district that favors Democrats by more than 5 percentage points. And Nikkel and GOP Rep. Brian DelGrosso are now in the same Loveland House seat.

Former Rep. Gayle Berry, a Grand Junction Republican, has bemoaned the lack of GOP women in recent elections.

“The biggest barrier to women serving in office is to get them to run in the first place,” she said. “Drawing these kinds of maps doesn’t help.”

But Atencio, the commissioner, pointed out that Berry was the lone Republican woman on the commission. Berry was appointed by Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper.

“Republican leadership appointed two men to the panel,” Atencio said. “A lot of this is just smoke and mirrors instead of Republicans taking responsibility for what happened.”

The Supreme Court ruled unanimously Wednesday that whistleblower protections passed by Congress in the wake of the financial crisis of 2008 apply only when those alleging corporate misdeeds bring their information to the government.

A prominent white nationalist is suing Twitter for banning his accounts at a time when social networks are trying to crack down on hateful and abusive content without appearing to censor unpopular opinions.

The social media service Twitter is believed to have suspended thousands of accounts for being automated bots, or for other policy violations, drawing outcry from fringe conservative media figures who lost followers in the move.